St Etheldreda's Church

Just outside the walls of Hatfield House, at the top of Fore Street, stands the historic parish church, St. Etheldreda’s. The Church is dedicated to St. Etheldreda, an Anglo-Saxon princess who founded a monastery at Ely. The manor of Hatfield was granted to Ely Abbey in 970 and remained church property until 1538.

The church dates from the 13th Century. Bishop Morton constructed the tower in the 15th Century. The Salisbury Chapel was built in 1618, shortly after the completion of Hatfield House. Finally, during the 19th century, there was a major reconstruction of the nave and roof, necessitated by the poor state of the fabric.

Three Prime Ministers are buried in the church. Robert Cecil has a monument, designed by Maximilian Colt, in the Salisbury Chapel. The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, who was three times Prime Minister to Queen Victoria, has a cenotaph dedicated to his memory near the sanctuary. Lord Melbourne and his wife, Lady Caroline Lamb, of Brocket Hall, are also buried in the church.

The churchyard contains many tombstones and a wooden memorial to John Whitemore, who lived through three centuries, born in 1698 and dying in 1801. He can be seen in a brown coat in the painting of the Grand Review of the Troops at Hatfield by King George III, which is at the top of the Adam and Eve staircase in Hatfield House itself.

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